The Night Before The Storm: book 2 of 3 in Black Asp trilogy
by churchdwc
Summary: In this thrilling direct sequel to "Syphon Assault" Darth Lindsay and her crown jewel, the Black Asp, begin a conquest to capture the galaxy. Sadly though, not everyone has agreed to her leadership, for Grand Admiral Thrawn fights back against the queen of darkness. Meanwhile, Boba Fett must collect some important info for Darth Lindsay and he'll get it by any means necessary.


On the planet Borealis a lone freighter is parked in a hangar when suddenly the door bursts open. A Bothan female and a human male run towards the ship with blaster fire hot on their tail. "Iella go, get the ship in the air!" the man yelled as he ducked behind a metal crate. He watched her race up the boarding ramp of their almost torpedo shaped, Sorrosub S-850 class freighter. Once she was safely aboard, the man turned his attention to the squad of stormtroopers that were entering the hangar. He popped out of cover, fired two shots from his blaster carbine (rifle), before ducking back down. His shots went wide and now they had him pinned. His only revelation came when he heard the ship's repulsars come online. The ship began to float two feet above the ground, it spun 90 degrees so the cockpit faced him. He looked up through the forward viewport at his co-pilot. Iella Fey'la was a Bothan with cream colored fur, and hazel eyes. She became his co-pilot and co-smuggler about a year ago, when he rescued her from being Gorda the Hutt's slave. During that year they had gone on numerous smuggling assignments, and this one just happened to have gone bad. Suddenly his comlink (communicator) chimed and he heard Iella say, "Hey Jack are you waiting for the Imps to give you a good bye kiss, or are you coming?" Snapping out of his daze, the man fired off a couple of blind shots, before racing to the ramp. Right as he reached it, he heard Iella open up with the ship's tri-blasters and mow down the stormtroopers. He raised the ramp, ran into the cockpit, and barely made it into his chair before Iella had them rocketing into the sky. They had just escaped Borealis' atmosphere when the sensors beeped a warning. "Four TIE fighters closing fast. Their hailing us," Iella said. Jack flipped a switch and the cockpit filled with the voice of an Imperial officer. "Attention Sorrosub freighter, Star Jewel. By orders of Darth Lindsay, and in the name of the Empire, you are under arrest. Power down your shields and prepare to be boarded," said the voice. "Imperial flight, this is the Star Jewel. I need you to deliver a message for me. Tell Darth Lindsay that today is the day she _almost_ caught Captain Jack Tintole. Iella, punch it!" With that the freighter leapt into hyperspace.

The Black Asp and the other 39 Imperial ships from the attack on Syphon finally dropped out of hyperspace around Coruscant, the heart of the Empire. Darth Lindsay, leader of the Sith and soon to be leader of the Empire, was standing on the bridge of her new flagship. Admiral Derek Craiken, the man she chose to command her fleet of 200 capitol ships, stood next to her. Her flagship, Black Asp, was literally a one of a kind. It's an Imperial Star Destroyer MK 3, and the largest ship in the galaxy. It had 150 turbolasers, 10 ion cannons, 30 tractor beams, it carried 900 TIE fighters, 300 Lambda-class shuttles, 10,000 stormtroopers, and 100 AT-AT walkers. It could conquer a star system in hours, that it would take a fleet of five ships days. "Sir, scanners report that the Lusankya is trying to make an escape," a crew member said. The Lusankya was the sister ship of Darth Vader's flagship and more importantly, the Lusankya was the flagship of Issane "Iceheart" Isard, the current leader of the Empire and the woman Darth Lindsay had come to kill. "I want that ship destroyed Admiral. No matter what the cost!" she said.

"Yes Ma'am. All batteries open fire as the Lusankya comes in range." replied the admiral. The Lusankya was on the edge of Black Asp's range, which means only the 20 forward mounted turbolasers could shoot at it.

"Sir, sensors show that while we are weakening the Lusankya's shields, it will still be able to jump to lightspeed before we destroy it." reported an officer. Lindsay grunted as a means to warn the Admiral about how angry she was getting.

"Then set forward shields to maximum and ram her."

"Sir, even at full speed we won't reach her in time. She is going to escape." Out of the corner of his eye, Derek could see the Sith lord reaching for 1 of her lightsabers. His voice took on a more demanding tone as he said, "NO! Lord Lindsay says the Lusankya dies here, so it dies here! Do a short hyper snap jump." A short hyper snap jump (also known as hyper suicide jump to smugglers), really is a good way to die quickly. It is when a ship enters hyperspace for barely a second before reverting to real space. Think of the ship like a rubber band. When a ship enters hyperspace it is stretched to three times its actual size and when it exits hyperspace it slowly shrinks back to its original size. In a normal jump, your ship spends enough time in hyperspace to safely slow down, but in a short hyper snap jump, your ship spends so little time in hyperspace that the front end of the ship has excited hyperspace before the rear end has entered. Only one of two things can happen. Either the strain on the bulkheads will be too much and the ship will tear its self apart. Or just like when you let go of one end of a stretched rubber band, the front end of the ship will pull the rear end through hyperspace at twice the normal speed, which causes the ship to slam back together. "Sir, I don't have enough time to-" Derek cut the officer off, as he flung the man from his chair. He grabbed the hyperspace control lever and said, "Brace for impact!" He shoved the handle forward for barely half a second before yanking it back. The result was the Black Asp, which had been 500 km away, was suddenly 20 feet away. Everyone on the bridge of the Black Asp, except Lindsay, was thrown from their chairs as the two ships collided. Lindsay just watched her ship's shields drop, 80%, 60%, 40%, 25%, 10%, 6%, and then the shaking stops as suddenly as it had begun when the two ships finally pass each other. His legs shaky, Derek climbs to his feet and says, "Alright, damage report." It take a whole five seconds for an officer to respond, "Sir shield systems are down, forward turbolasers 1-10 have been destroyed, and there are minor hull breaches along our port side."

"Good. What's the status of the Lusankya?"

"She's dead in space, Sir. We split her completely in two, and so far no escape pods have launched."

"Very good, but I want to make sure Iceheart is dead. All batteries open fire!" With the Lusankya dealt with, Admiral Derek pressed a button on his special command gauntlet that he wore on his left wrist. Three seconds later, four heavily armed stormtroopers marched onto the bridge and over to the admiral. Derek pointed at the officer that he had shoved out of the chair and said, "Troopers, arrest this man for insubordination." Two of the stormtroopers picked up the man, and walked him out with the other two troopers in tow. The admiral stood tall with his head held high, as Darth Lindsay walked up to him and said, "You amazed me today Craiken. I'm very pleased."

The grey and red ship, Star Jewel, dropped out of hyperspace near the planet Hoth. After the destruction of the first Death Star, Hoth had been the main base for the Rebel Alliance, till Darth Vader came and wiped the base out. Now Hoth belonged to the Empire, who used it for the precious gas pockets that lay beneath the ice. "There she is, the snowball of the galaxy. Why are we here again?" Iella asked.

"We're here because our client is offering big bucks for a S.R.S."

"A what?"

"A Solar Reflection Ship. Half of its hull plates are actually solar panels. It gathers energy from a star, then it unleashes the energy in a tight beam that can melt anything in seconds." At that moment an official sounding voice came over the com unit, "Attention unidentified vessel, you are entering a restricted zone. Either leave the system now or I'll be forced to-" Jack shut off the com unit in the middle of the guy's sentence, and kicked the Star Jewel's engines up to full power.

"There's a S.R.S. off our port bow, but we have TIE fighters that'll be on us in 30 seconds." Iella reported.

"I'll handle the TIE's, you just pay attention to that S.R.S." Jack squeezed the triggers and watched two of the TIE's implode. The three remaining fighters split up, and Jack had to fight hard to stay on their tails. It took him 30 seconds to shoot down the first TIE, and another minute to get the second. He was about to get the last when Iella screamed, "Jack the S.R.S." Jack looked at his sensors and saw that the ship was gathering U.V. rays.

"Shit!" Jack shoved the Star Jewel into a tight dive, and a bright white beam leapt from the S.R.S. Jack brought his ship around and launched two concussion missiles. The missiles crippled the enemy ship and Jack quickly moved to take out the last TIE.

An almost T-shaped fighter landed just outside of the city of Taanab on the planet Corellia. Inside the fighter a lone bounty hunter watched the holo-message from Darth Lindsay one last time. "Hello bounty hunter, you are known as the best of the best in the galaxy. That's why I have given this assignment to you. I need you to capture two smugglers for me. One is a Bothan named Iella Fey'la, and the other is a human named Jack Tintole. They fly around in Jack's ship, the Star Jewel. The easiest way to get them is make them come to you. Jack is the key, do whatever you must to get him to want to come after you. You can kill him if you want, but bring me the Bothan alive."

A young girl with shoulder length black hair, and blue eyes walked into the front door of her house in Taanab city. She was 14 years old and lived with her mom, her dad was still a big part in her life but he was a smuggler so he didn't spend much time at home. She tossed her backpack aside and said, "Mom I'm home from school. Mom?" She walked through the house and drew the vibroblade her dad made her carry around. She entered her parents' bedroom and saw her mom lying face down on the floor. The girl rushed to her mom's side, starting to panic, and said, "Mom! Mom wake up! Mom!" Suddenly she heard the sound of a blaster's safety clicking off. She looked up and saw a man wearing green Mandalorian armor and holding a blaster rifle that was pointed straight at her as he stepped out of the master bathroom. "Hello Amy," he said as the blue arc of a stun blast hit her, causing her to pass out.

The Star Jewel flew into a tunnel that was carved into an asteroid that served as the command base of Grand Admiral Thrawn (one of the Emperor's best tacticians and currently Jack's employer). After landing, Jack got off while Iella stayed with the ship. Grand Admiral Thrawn was a Chiss aristocrat. The Chiss were a humanoid species with blue skin, glowing red eyes, and lived on the far edge of the Outer Rim. The second he stepped off of the boarding ramp, Jack was flanked by two Chiss in yellow suits. They led him down a long corridor till they reached a room that was highly extravagant. It was a circular room, the walls were lined with crystal clear blue waterfalls, the floor tiles were a lush rainforest green, the ceiling glowed a dim orange like a sunset, and in the center of the room were two dark brown trees that had been carved out to make chairs. Overall the decor made you feel like you were in the middle of the rainforest. Jack even noticed that it was slightly more humid in the room. In one of the chairs sat a Chiss who was wearing a black military suit with multiple campaign ribbons on it. "Hello Grand Admiral Thrawn." said jack.

"Greetings Captain Tintiole, please take a seat," Thrawn said as he gestured to the other chair. Jack sat down and said, "So Admiral I was wondering. What do you want with a Solar Reflection Ship?"

"Why the Chiss Embassy wants it is not of your concern. Your job is to just get the item and deliver it, then leave. So let's get down to business. I will over you 15,000 credits for the ship."

"15,000!? This is a rip off, your message said the payment would be 25!"

"Yes, and the message also stated that I wanted the ship in pristine condition. So if you wanted 25 then maybe you shouldn't have shot it with a missile."

"20,000"

"15 five"

"18"

"16"

"17 five"

"Deal, 17,500 credits it is. So Captain, can I interest you or your co-pilot in some refreshments?" Jack's personal communicator began to beep, so he flicked a switch and Iella's voice came through, "Jack you need to get back here now!"

"Iella what's wrong?"

"You got a message from Corellia, the Slave 1 to be exact." That sent a chill down Jack's spine, for the Slave 1 was a ship that belonged to Boba Fett.

"I'm on my way." Jack leapt from his chair, as he shut off the communicator he said, "My apologies Admiral Thrawn but I need to go, now." The Chiss admiral just waved him off and said, "Its ok Captain, you can go. For even I know that it is not wise to keep the great Boba Fett waiting."

Jack stumbled into the cockpit and slammed his hand down on the 'playback' button. Instantly a tiny hologram of Boba Fett, in his green armor appeared. "Captain Tintiole, first let me say that I am just doing my job. In three days you will land in Mos Eisly on Tattooine. Upon landing you and your co-pilot Iella will follow more instructions that I will give you then. Now in order to insure your compliance with my orders, I have captured your wife and daughter. Do not worry they are unharmed, you know my three rules, so please don't make me brake them." The message ended and Jack just stood there in horror. He kept thinking about Pema and Amy being in the hands of the most dangerous bounty hunter in the galaxy. Luckily Fett was also the most trustworthy bounty hunter. He had three rules: 1. his prices were not negotiable; 2. he always got his target; and 3. never involve innocents if possible. While it made Jack feel better that he knew Boba truly didn't want to hurt Pema or Amy, he knew that Boba would if he had too. Iella laid a hand on Jack's shoulder and said, "Jack, are you ok?"

"Yeah Iella, I'm fine. Set a course for Tattooine."

On the planet Coruscant, Darth Lindsay was sitting in her new office when Admiral Derek walked in and said, "You wanted to see me my lord."

"Yes Admiral. Now that we have taken control of Coruscant, it's time to make the rest of the galaxy fall in line."

"So you want to make life hard for the Rebel Alliance. What do you need me to do?"

"I want you to put some of the ships in my fleet to work. Send 10 ships to the planet Thyferra, have them cut off all bacta distribution except to us (bacta is the 'heal all wounds' medicine). Next I want you to send five ships each to the ship building yards at Corellia and Kuat. Then send 30 ships to Bothauwi, and we'll see how well they function without access to the Bothan Spy Network. Lastly I want you to send a message to all the Imperial war lords throughout the galaxy and send them an offer to join us. If any of them say no, then you are to take the Black Asp with a fleet and destroy them!"

"Yes my lord, I'll get started right away."

Grand Admiral Thrawn stood in a viewing chamber and looked out at the darkness of space. His base was located inside a huge asteroid, which was easily defendable thanks to the surrounding asteroid field. It had been two days since the Star Jewel had dropped off the S.R.S. Yesterday was when he got the message from Darth Lindsay on Coruscant, and it had only been three hours since he sent back his answer. So now he was busy preparing to roll out the red carpet for the Black Asp.

The Star Jewel landed in Hangar B-14of the Mos Eisly spaceport. Jack and Iella walked over to the hangar's entrance and climbed into the back of a land speeder that had been waiting for them. The droid pilot took them out of the city, across a stretch of desert, and into a rock canyon before parking outside of a cave. The whole trip took about two hours, but finally they arrived at the cave Boba Fett had said to go to. Jack entered the cave with his blaster drawn and Iella right behind him. They made it to the back of the cave and found a single glow-lamp. In the far corner of the room were Pema and Amy who had been knocked out, and standing in front of them was Boba Fett. "Captain Tintole I'm glad you made it. Now get rid of your weapons and that includes the vibroblade in your boot." Boba said. Jack tossed his weapons at the bounty hunter and said, "So you have me, now what do you want?"

"Actually Captain, I don't need you anymore. I only needed you to bring Miss Fey'la to me. Darth Lindsay has a very big interest in her. If you're wondering why, then ask her about her cousin." Jack turned around and looked at the girl that had been his partner for a year now and said, "Cousin, what cousin?

"Jack I haven't told you this yet, but my cousin is Borsk Fey'la, one of the leading members of the rebellion." she told him.

"Bingo. Now you're going to tell me where your cousin's base is." Boba told her.

"No. I won't betray the Alliance, you can't make me!"

"Then I guess I'll have to give you some motivation." Boba fired off a single round from his blaster rifle and Jack's entire world crumbled. "PEMA!" Jack screamed as he ran over to his wife's dead body.

"I asked you Iella not to make me break my rules."

The Black Asp and four capitol ships arrived at the edge of an asteroid field in the Crusai system. "Have the fleet move into the field and prepare to attack" Admiral Derek said. As the fleet neared the center of the asteroid field, all hell broke loose. The asteroids around the fleet suddenly started exploding and large chunks of rocks began to slam into the ships' shields at break neck speeds. "Status report." Derek demanded.

"Sir, 80% of the asteroids in the field detonated, and one of our Star Destroyers was torn to shreds. Our shields are holding at 75%." answered an officer. Out of nowhere three beams of solar energy pierced another Star Destroyer, making it useless. At that moment three Solar Reflection Ships, four Chiss heavy cruisers, and about 300 starfighters came darting out from behind Thrawn's base. "Coms, tell our two remaining Star Destroyers to pull back to the edge of the asteroid system," said the admiral.

"Sir, are we retreating?" asked an officer with obvious surprise in his voice.

"No. The Black Asp will be handling this mission ourselves. Full speed ahead, forward batteries focus on those S.R.S.'s, remaining batteries take care of the cruisers. Also launch a third of our TIE fighters."

"Aye, Sir."

Grand Admiral Thrawn stood in an observation room for 15 minutes, watching the Black Asp move through his fleet like a blue whale being attacked by minnows. "She really did make that thing unstoppable." he said. The Black Asp finally mopped up the last of the Chiss space forces. So now all that was left to do according to Imperial doctrine was deploy stormtroopers and have them clean out the base. But instead of launching shuttles the Black Asp just opened fire with all 150 of its turbolasers.

"All batteries hold fire. Status report." said Derek.

"Sir, the base has been completely destroyed, and the last of our fighters have returned."

"Good. Prepare to jump to light speed and set a course for-"

"Naboo" Darth Lindsay said as she stormed onto the bridge. "Boba Fett came through, and now I know the last four rebel planets."

** TO BE CONCLUDED…**


End file.
